


Diamond

by ericaismeg



Series: 30 Days of Writing [10]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: 30 Days of Writing, Allydia Diamond Events, Alternate Universe - Food Service, Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Human, Derek Hale & Erica Reyes Friendship, Event Planning, Everyone Is Alive, Future Fic, M/M, Misunderstandings, Slow Build Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-07
Updated: 2014-05-07
Packaged: 2018-01-23 21:49:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1580708
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericaismeg/pseuds/ericaismeg
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Allison and Lydia own an wedding planning company called, <i>Allydia Diamond Events</i>. Stiles has been working for them for four years as their caterer. Their latest client? Erica Reyes from high school. She brings in Derek Hale with her.</p>
<p>Derek used to hate Stiles in high school, and he clearly still does. That doesn't stop Stiles from crushing on his client - knowing he's getting married doesn't stop him.</p>
<p>Only Derek's not getting married to Erica. He's just lost his ability to speak around Stiles. Again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Diamond

**Author's Note:**

> I've decided to attempt this [writing challenge.](http://foxerica.tumblr.com/post/84097258077/felicitygs-spontaneousfangasm)
> 
> Day Ten.
> 
> Word of the day: diamond.

 

            When Stiles walks into his office this morning, he feels a sense of excitement in the air. It makes him grateful that his high school friends, Allison Argent, and Lydia Martin, had tracked him down four years ago. He’d just been fresh out of college, excited to jump right into the catering world. Allison and Lydia had approached him with a business opportunity that Stiles hadn’t been able to refuse. They had wanted him to be their official caterer for _Allydia Diamond Events_.

            It had started as a fluke. Allison’s friend from her old town had called her up and asked if she could help plan her wedding. Allison agreed, but after learning how _huge_ her request was, she’d asked Lydia to help. Lydia or Allison had remembered that Stiles had gone to school—three years for cooking, and one year for baking—and that’s when they had requested he get some experience for this wedding. Stiles had agreed. He’d called up their old high school friend, Danny, to take the photographs.

            The wedding had become a huge hit, and then three other people had requested that they help them out with their weddings. Things had tumbled after that. Lydia had taken charge of the business aspect, making sure that their company is running smoothly. Allison mainly deals with the clients.

            Stiles stuck around for catering. He enjoys doing food tastings with clients, seeing the delight on their face. He has a great team that works under him, and Stiles has decided to only to personally do the baking. He lets his team do all of the cooking. It’d taken him a year or so to realize he didn’t enjoy cooking for large quantities of people—but he doesn’t mind overlooking the staff that do.  
            Danny had decided he wanted to take over their marketing department. He had setup the website, and once it was clear that no one else is entirely sure how to do updates, he stuck around. He had confided that he’s happy to be here. He still does their photography though, since he has the best editing skills. Danny’s usually in the office unless he’s out on an engagement photo shoot or on the actual event itself. He does do the occasional meeting with clients, but mainly Allison just gives Danny a photo brief for the day of the event.

            It had worked out extremely well. Stiles usually stops by the vet clinic that Scott is working at after he’s done on the office days, and he updates Scott on life at the office. There’s never a dull moment around here. Scott swears he likes hearing about the stuff that goes on in the office, and remarks that he often wishes he had some hands in the business somehow.

            A vet isn’t useful in a wedding event planning company, but Stiles loves him for the thought.

            “Our client is coming in within the next fifteen minutes. Do you have your materials ready?” Allison asks, swinging her head into Stiles’ doorway just after he sat down.

            “Of course,” Stiles responds with a smile. He looks up at her, and then adds, “I noticed that our client is Erica Reyes. I remember her from high school. Her fiancé’s name wasn’t listed though.”

            “Oh, I think he’s coming in with her today. I’m sorry, I must have forgotten to write it down,” Allison says, with a frown. “Crap. Does that mean the rest of the paperwork is only done under Erica’s name? I’ll be right back.”

            Stiles doesn’t give her a response, because she doesn’t wait around for one. He settles into his chair, and clicks onto Facebook. He types in Erica’s name, wondering how she’d been since high school. He remembers her as this blonde bombshell, who stormed the halls as if she owned everything and everyone. She might as well have, Stiles admits. 

            Erica had been a grade above the rest of them in the office, and she’d left a name for herself in high school. Everyone had known who she was. One thing that Stiles remembers is that Erica hadn’t been the settling down and marrying type. He’s curious as to who could ever tame Erica, and when he finds her profile, he just sees her profile photo. She’s smiling, her blonde hair a little wild, and she has that look in her eyes. Other than that, Stiles can’t see anything on her profile.

            He’d have to add her as a friend, and that’s highly creepy and very unprofessional. Stiles exits the page, and grabs the file folder he’d created for her. This is their consultation meeting, so Stiles has _all_ of his menus prepared. He grabs his binder of wedding cakes off the shelf as well.

            Consultation meetings are usually a drag, but sometimes they could be fun. It depends on the couple. Allison usually gets all of the important information over the phone: their budget, the ideal date and venue, and number of guests.

            He decides to head to the meeting room, where he finds Allison going through her papers. She looks much more relaxed than she had a few minutes ago. “It must have just been the meeting marker I sent you.”

            “That’s okay,” Stiles tells her. “It’s not a big deal. Have you talked with Lydia about my receptionist request?”

            “Considering that we’ve been getting a little behind in returning calls, yeah, I have. Why, do you have someone in mind?” Allison asks, looking up from her work.

            “Actually, I do,” Stiles tells her as he sits down beside her. He spreads out his documents and arranges them so that he can go through the important ones first. “Scott ran into Isaac Lahey the other day. He recently was laid off, and I think he might have a kid to support. Scott’s not sure, because he said the kid didn’t look anything like Isaac. But maybe we could help him out?”

            Allison considers this. Stiles had gotten over the awkwardness that it had been working with his best friend’s ex-girlfriend. Stiles knows that Scott and Allison sometimes get together for coffee, and that they’re always okay going out drinking as a group, so it’s nice that they aren’t petty about Stiles being friends with both of them. She nods. “I kind of remember Isaac. He was on the lacrosse team, right?”

            “Yeah, for a bit, but his dad made him quit.” Stiles winces at the reference to Stiles’ dad, and Allison’s eyes widened as she remembers exactly who Isaac is.

            There had been a huge blow out, and Isaac had almost killed his dad in self-dense. That’s when the truth about Isaac’s abuse had come out, and Stiles remembers how exhausted his dad had been when he’d come home that day. It hadn’t been a good shift. Isaac had gotten out, and had even worked his way through college the last that Stiles had known.

            When Scott had brought up that Isaac’s out of a job, Stiles had immediately told Scott that he should tell Isaac he’d work on something. Convincing Lydia wouldn’t be that difficult, because she’d been complaining about missed calls, and late callbacks.

            “I remember,” Allison says softly. “I’ll mention it to Lydia.”

            A knock comes at the door and they look up to see Danny in the doorway. “Your client is here. And by client, I mean, Hottie Erica Reyes.”

            “Dude,” Stiles says, with a laugh.

            “What? Just because I’m gay doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate the female form. She’s waiting by Lydia’s office. We really need to get a receptionist,” Danny tells them.

            “We were just talking about that!” Stiles says, and glances at Allison who’s getting up. She smiles and starts talking about Stiles’ proposal for hiring Isaac Lahey.

            “I loved that guy,” Danny says, wiggling his eyebrows up and down as they leave the doorframe.

            Thirty seconds later, Allison’s walking back into the office with two people following her. The first is the woman that Stiles knows as Erica. She still looks fucking hot, and Danny’s right. There’s no way you can’t admire her looks. She wears a tight black mini-skirt that only she can pull off, with a tight baby blue shirt. Stiles is ready to introduce himself, and shake her hand, when he sees her fiancé.

            _No fucking way_. Erica Reyes is getting married to _Derek Hale_. Stiles freezes. The guy is even more gorgeous than he had been in high school. Stiles blinks a couple times, positive his eyes are betraying him. He’s almost begging that they are. Derek Hale had just walked into the meeting room. He also does _not_ look happy to be here.

            Considering what Derek had gone through the last year that he’d been in high school, Stiles had gotten used to seeing that grump of an expression. The scowl had only matured in the past nine years since Stiles had seen him. He’d gotten ridiculously gorgeous facial hair. Stiles wonders what it would be like to get stubble burn in very, very naughty places.

            He remembers he’s at work too late. His cheeks flush with a little red, and he jerks his hand forward towards Erica. “Stilinski. I mean, Stiles. Stiles Stilinski. Caterer.”

            She raises an eyebrow and then places her hand in his. “Erica Reyes. I remember you from high school, Stiles.”

            “You do?” he asks, cocking his head. “I was a year younger than you, so I just assumed…”

            “Please,” Erica says, with a laugh. “You were the loudest kid at school. I noticed you every time you were in the hallway. Besides, you were nice to meet when few people were when I was in grade ten.”

            Stiles remembers that day. He hadn’t known that Erica had. It had been before Erica had taken over the school with just her sheer will. Her hair had been frazzled, her outfit too baggy for her body, she hadn’t worn makeup (and he’ll never understand why she didn’t think she looked good without it—she had), and she’d been crying. He knows she’s terrified of heights, and he’d heard that Coach had yelled at her for not being able to get to the top of the rock-climbing wall.

            He’d run into awkwardly after school had ended. Stiles had forgotten his homework, and she’d been standing at her locker, head inside, crying. Stiles isn’t one to leave a girl alone and crying, so he’d gone over to help.

            That’s when he suggested climbing up the wall with her alone. They’d geared up, and he stood on the floor and talked to her quietly. She’d hit the top, Stiles had snapped a photo, and then she had carefully rappelled down.

            They hadn’t talked after that, and something had changed in her almost overnight. She’d then been engulfed in a confidence she’d never had before, and had gone with it.

            Stiles had assumed that she’d forgotten about it, because why would she want to remember crying in the school hallways?

            “I remember that,” he tells her sincerely. “I have to say, Erica. You look good.”

            “I feel good,” she answers easily. She points at Derek, who’s still standing beside her with a scowl on his face. “Do you remember, Derek?”

            “Yes, of course,” Stiles says politely. He hopes that Derek doesn’t notice the tremble in his hand as he holds it out across the table. Derek just looks at it, and then meets Stiles’ eyes. He makes no move to be shake it, so Stiles pulls his hand back. “Still hate me, I see.”

            Derek doesn’t say anything, just yanks the chair out from in front of him and sits down in a huff. Allison elbows Stiles, and he just shrugs. What can he do? The guy had hated him in school, and it clearly hadn’t changed in the past nine years. He shrugs, unsure what he’s supposed to say. Allison clears her throat. “Okay, so I would like you to describe your perfect wedding in three words.”

            Erica considers this. She settles with, “My groom, my friends, and fun.”

            “You’d be surprised at how many brides forget to say the groom,” Stiles quips.

            Allison smiles, but he can tell she doesn’t appreciate the interference. Still, Erica laughs. She glances at Derek, whose lips have tugged upwards ever so slightly. She pats Derek’s hand on the table.

            “I want us to have a starting point so we can develop your theme,” Allison tells her.

            Erica nods in agreement and says, “I was thinking I want something small and intimate, as youknow. I’m huge on being the center of attention, but I never wanted a wedding. I think it’s important that it’s classy, and a little understated.”

            “Interesting,” Stiles remarks before he can think about it. Erica looks at him, her steady gaze forcing him to explain his comment. “I think that a small wedding suits you. Not that I know you well, but I could see it.”

            “Everyone’s expecting a huge bash, something loud and hard,” Erica admits. “I think I’d like to surprise them. Something soft, maybe?”

            “We could do soft,” Allison says, jumping at the words. She flips through her binder, and settles on a page. She pushes it towards Erica. “This is a wedding we did two years ago. The colour scheme was lavender, and it turned out to be _gorgeous_. The bride was happy. The soft tone of the colour really allowed us to do some subtle, soft decorations.”

            “Lavender’s not really my colour,” Erica says, shrugging. “But I like this idea of simplicity.”

            “What about yellow?” Stiles suggests. Allison shoots him a dirty look. She’s used to him being less invested in the actual wedding part, and being more talkative for the food portion.

            Erica beams at the idea. “Yellow! Oh, I love that idea.”

            Allison rolls her eyes at Stiles, just because she’s annoyed, but she flips through some weddings that they’ve done with the colour scheme of yellow. She points out a couple of them, and Erica shakes her head.

            “I think I want it to be fresher,” Erica says, frowning at the book. “Not that these aren’t gorgeous, but…maybe bright yellow and white is more my thing.”

            “We could do daisies for your floral arrangements, with some yellow roses, or even yellow daisies as well,” Allison suggests. “Not that we’re getting into floral arrangements just yet, but sometimes it just takes choosing one aspect of the theme to get the ball rolling.”

            Stiles leans back and lets Allison do what she does best. As her and Erica chat over the potential floral arrangements, he looks over at Derek. Man, the guy is just glaring him down. Maybe Stiles had annoyed him with his comments. He has to admit he is only the caterer. He shouldn’t be suggesting themes.

            “Stiles?” Erica’s voice draws him back. “Do you think freshly cut lemons in a water vase, with bright yellow and white flowers would look okay?”

            He glances at Allison, who’s waiting for his answer. Stiles shrugs. “I think that would look great. We could do some old-fashion, homemade lemonade for drinks. We could even serve them in mason jars. It’s a fresh and homey feel. It wouldn’t be too bold, but rather simple. Not only that, but we could do your wedding cake in a simple white-and-yellow design. I have a great recipe for lemon icing.”

            Erica seems to beam at him. She turns to Derek. “What do you think?”

            “Whatever you want, Erica,” he says in a dry voice.

            She rolls her eyes and elbows him. “Derek, _participate_. What do you think?”

            “I think that you doing something as simple as lemons suits you,” Derek says, rolling his eyes. “I could picture you around white and yellow. Not purple.”

            “Obviously not,” she says, scoffing. “But you think we could move forward with the idea of the lemon? Lemons and daisies. I think I love it. I mean, your idea about doing homemade lemonade sounds _great_. We’ll have to come up with a lemon alcoholic drink too.”

            “Definitely,” Stiles says.

            Allison and Erica start discussing the other details, now that Erica had latched onto the simple lemon and daisy theme. Stiles studies Derek again. It’s strange, how the man seems to hate every second he’s here. He’s getting married to one of the greatest women and he’s looking miserable about it. Not that Stiles had known Erica well, but he _did_ know that she had never been mean to anyone in high school who hadn’t deserved it.

            Derek, however, had always been a dick to Stiles. He’s not entirely sure why. He just remembers that Derek used to glare at him from across the cafeteria. Then when Stiles had joined the lacrosse team in grade eleven, and Derek had been the captain, Stiles hadn’t gotten _any_ playtime. He’d been a benchwarmer until Derek had gone off to school, and Scott had become the captain of the team in their final year of school.

            Stiles isn’t holding it against him or anything. It just seems a little frustrating that Derek clearly still hates him and he doesn’t even know why.

            Stiles is dragged out of his thoughts when Allison suggests that Stiles discuss menu ideas.

            As Stiles says, “Since you’re going with a simple theme, you should have simple foods. It’ll tie everything together in a way that your guests won’t necessarily notice, but it makes a difference. We once did an Egyptian themed wedding with chicken wings. It was _bizarre_. Everyone was happy, but still.”

            “Okay, so what do you suggest?” Erica asks.

            He pulls out his favourite menu. He starts discussing why each item would work well, and what makes it a strong choice. Then he pulls out the second menu that could work well with her theme. Erica frowns at both of them. She asks, “Do I have to make decisions now?”

            “Oh no, we can set up a food and cake tasting for next week if you’d like. There’s definitely no rush on finalizing the menu just yet.” Stiles glances at Allison who nods in agreement. He definitely had forgotten the date that Erica and Derek are getting married on, but he assumes they have lots of time. Erica seems to relax.

            “Do you want to look at my previous cakes?”

            “Definitely!” she says, cheerfully.

            They go through it for about five minutes. Allison lets her flip through Danny’s portfolio, and Erica looks pleased. She asks a few questions here and there, and then nudges Derek to react. He just mutters, “They’re great” and leaves it at that.

            “This meeting has been great, and I’m _definitely_ going to be hiring you.”

            Sometimes Stiles forgets that consultation meetings mean that they have to sell their company to the client. He just assumes that they’re here because they want to hire _Allydia Diamond Events_. Allison beams at this news though.

            “That’s great. We’re lucky to have such an inspiring couple to plan a wedding for. Let’s go book a follow-up meeting. We can finalize any permits we’ll need for your backyard, Derek, and get that paperwork done. Then we can discuss décor ideas and I can get quotes for you. We’ll have to sort out who’s going to be your officiant. We have a list of great people you can look at, but it’s been very popular to get someone you know personally to officiate. We can book you in for a follow up meeting with Stiles as well.”

            “I’m so excited!” Erica says as she follows Allison out the door.

            Stiles starts to pack away his notes, when he realizes Derek is still sitting in his chair. He frowns. “Is this going to be weird?”

            Derek tilts his head slightly. “Why would it be weird?”

            _Wow_ , Derek had just spoken to him. It takes Stiles a second to recover from processing that idea. He rubs the back of his neck and then nods. “Right, okay, so we won’t talk about the elephant in the room.”

            Derek doesn’t say anything to that. He just pushes his chair back and stands up. It surprises Stiles, but Derek holds out his hand.

            Stiles shakes it. “Okay, truce. I’m good with a truce.”

            The gorgeous, why-are-you-getting-married-when-we-should-be-doing-naked-things-together man gives him a curious look. Then he’s walking out behind Erica and Allison. Stiles takes a minute to catch his breath.

            This wedding is going to be the death of him.

 

 

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

            “Mr. Stilinski?” a timid voice comes at his office door the following week. He looks up at Isaac and rolls his eyes.

            “ _Stiles_ , dude. You’re my age. What are you doing?” Stiles says, dramatically. Isaac just looks slightly amused, and Stiles wonders if he’s doing it just to get a reaction from him.

            “Stiles, your three o’clock appointment is here.”

            “Thanks, Mr. Lahey.”

            “Ew,” Isaac says, with a laugh.

            “My point, exactly!” Stiles calls out after him. He grabs his keys and then heads out to meet Erica and her gorgeous fiancé, Derek. They’re standing by Isaac’s desk. Isaac had become invaluable in three short days, Stiles has to admit. He greets the gorgeous couple. “Hello, it’s great to see you again.”

            “You too! We’re excited. Aren’t we, Derek?” Erica asks, looking up at her fiancé with a loving expression. He wants to tell Erica that she could do better than grumpy pants Derek Hale. Yet the way the love shines on her face and how his expression softens when he looks at her, Stiles can’t deny true love. Erica pats Derek’s chest. “He’s very excited, just not very vocal.”

            “Sure,” Stiles says in his most professional tone. “If you will follow me to the kitchen, I have everything set up and ready to go.”

            “Oh goodie,” Erica says. Stiles watches with regret, as Erica grabs Derek’s wrist to tug him forward.

            He’s a professional. He’s dealt with over three hundred couples in the past two years. He can handle Erica and Derek. Hell, he’s had his fair share of bridezillas come in here, and he handled them professionally. Even if he’d run to Scott’s vet clinic after those meetings almost in tears.

            It doesn’t matter that he used to have the world’s biggest crush on Derek Hale. It doesn’t matter that he’d spent a few nights here and there over the past nine years wondering what Derek’s doing or how he is. It doesn’t matter that Derek hates his guts _still_ and he doesn’t know why _still_.

            What matters is that Erica Reyes and Derek Hale are getting married and Stiles is their caterer. He sees a few of his workers smile up at him, as they put the final addition on the meal that is laid out for the couple. Stiles takes his seat, after motioning for them to sit down.

            He goes through each piece, describing the process of how it’s made, and how they would transport it to Derek’s house—which, Stiles had learned in the past week, they had finalized for the venue of the wedding. It seems nice. A small intimate wedding in the Hales’ backyard and it’s something that Stiles had only thought about _once_.

            Stiles keeps track of how much Erica likes each item, and writes down the ones that Derek seems to enjoy too. It’s a subtle change in his expression, but Stiles catches it. He then gets his staff to switch out the meal items for the dessert items.

            “I thought I would give you the option of the lemon icing, but my other icings as well. This one is lemon icing on simple chocolate cake.”

            Erica moans after her first bite. She stabs at the cake and then sticks the fork into Derek’s mouth. Stiles is pleased when he sees that Derek’s shoulders fall in pleasure. He nods at Erica. “That one.”

            “We have nine other pieces to try, silly. Is this vanilla?” Erica asks, pointing at a cake. Stiles nods. She waves him to be quiet when he starts speaking. She takes a bite, moans, and then immediately is shoving a forkful into Derek’s mouth.

            “Or that one,” Derek murmurs.

            “This one is red velvet with yellow-dyed cream cheese icing,” Stiles says pointing to the third one. Erica’s rushing to try it, and Derek picks up his own fork to grab a piece. Erica nods.

            “Oh god, Stiles, that’s _good_.”

            “Thanks,” he says, blushing a little.

            “I think you should have them all,” Derek tells her, with sincerity. “Do you do cupcakes?”

            “Of course,” Stiles says with a scoff. “You can always pick one flavour set for your cake, and then do a bunch of cupcakes as well.”

            “I like that idea!” Erica says, going for the fourth piece. “These are so good, that I really don’t know how I’m supposed to choose anyway.”

            When they finish the tasting, Stiles chats with them about what they believe were their favourite items. He waves in his staff member, Heather, to bring in the refreshments. He had made sure to get an old mason jug, had Heather make homemade lemonade, with some lemon slices floating on top.

            Erica claps her hands together in excitement when Heather starts pouring them drinks. “Wow, Stiles, you know how to do a tasting.”

            “Thanks,” he says, laughing. “It is my job.”

            She takes a sip. “Wow, okay, wow. Derek, taste this.”

            Without waiting for him to grab his own cup, Erica’s lifting hers to Derek’s lips. Stiles has to look away. It’s not that he still has a crush on Derek. That would be ridiculous. But it does kind of sting to see him happy with Erica, being cute with Erica. Not that he doesn’t adore the hell out of Erica. She’s quickly becoming one of his favourite people.

            Still, it sucks. It reminds him that he’s still single. Derek Hale had been right in high school—Stiles would be single for the rest of his life.

            “Wow, that’s good,” Derek says. “Is that freshly squeezed?”

            “Every single drop,” Stiles says proudly. He looks up at Heather, and holds out his hand. She high-fives him, and then asks if he needs anything else. “No, no, go get ready for your date with Caitlin. Thanks for everything today, Heather.”

            “No problem, boss. I’ll see you again on Monday.”

            “Have a great date!” Stiles calls over his shoulder as she walks out. He smiles back at Erica and Derek. “She’s my favourite.”

            “She went to high school with us,” Erica says, laughing. “Is _everyone_ here from Beacon Hills High?”

            “Yeah, pretty much. It’s not on purpose though,” Stiles says, shrugging. “I guess even in the big city, Beacon Hills people look out for each other.”

            “Isaac says he _loves_ his job. He’s going to be one of the groomsmen.”

            “Oh, I didn’t know that.” Stiles smiles. “He’s been doing a great job already. Danny’s started to relax again, which is nice. No one likes stressed Danny.”

            Erica laughs.

            Stiles looks down at his scribbled notes. “I’m going to go photocopy my notes for you. You can look them over and figure out what you would like to do for the menu and the cake. I also have some cake designs I would like you to look over.”

            “ _Actually_ ,” Erica says, looking a little guilty. “I have a design already.”

            Stiles pauses and nods. “Okay, that makes that easier.”

            “Derek’s sister, Cora, did it for me.” She pulls out a sketch from her purse and hands it to Stiles.

            He studies it. It’s just a simple three-tiered white cake. Each of the bottom of the tiers have a yellow band around them. There are two lines of silver dragées around each tier above the yellow band. Then there is a line of yellow flowers curling upwards around the cake.

            Stiles nods. “This is good. I can do this. It’ll actually be one of the easier cakes I have to do this year.”

            “You’ll do it?” Erica asks, excited.

            “Yeah, I will. Does Cora do these kind of drawings often?” Stiles asks.

            “She dabbles,” Derek tells him. “Or so she says.”

            “Can you ask her if she can draw me up a couple of other examples?” Stiles says, studying the artwork. “It’s much better than anything I can sketch up. I might see if Lydia would consider commissioning her from time to time if she’s this consistently good.”

            “Wow, we’ll definitely get some more sketches from her,” Erica says, nodding. “That’s a great opportunity for her. She’s in art school right now.”

            Stiles smiles. “We’ve been consistently expanding our staff, because we keep getting busier and busier. We should have had a receptionist last year, to be honest. We have about a quarter more events than we did last year, so we definitely need the extra staff. It would save me a lot of time. I just look on Google for inspiration and cut and paste, to be honest.”

            Derek snorts.

            “I’ll be back.” Stiles goes into Danny’s office. Danny looks up at him curiously. “Derek Hale hates me, but look at what his sister can draw.”

            He hands the sketch to Danny, who looks thoroughly impressed. “Is she going into graphic design, by any chance?”

            “She’s in art school. I’m going to copy it, and then talk to Lydia about maybe commissioning her occasionally.” Stiles starts using Danny’s personal photocopier. He leans against the machine as it goes through the four pages and starts printing them. “Isn’t that _great_ though?”

            “She’s got talent,” Danny comments with a nod. “Now what’s this about Derek Hale hating you?”

            “I mean he _hates_ me. He refuses to talk. I feel bad for Erica, but I guess she must have known he hates me before bringing him here. She doesn’t seem surprised at all.” Stiles grabs his copies and keeps them in his other hand to separate the originals. “He hated me in high school, but that was nine years ago.”

            “I doubt he hates you.”

            “No, Danny, he _hates_ me. He looks like he could murder me without any guilt at any second.” Stiles sighs. “I have to get back.”

            “Good luck,” Danny calls out as he leaves.

            Stiles hands Erica the copies of the menu and notes, and then he hands her the original of Cora’s sketch. She looks more relaxed now. “Stiles, thank you so much. You and Allison have been _great_ so far. It’s only the second week and I already feel as though we’re getting ahead of schedule.”

            “We are,” Stiles assures her. “Allison’s been working extra hard to make sure that this wedding gets extra attention.”

            “Really?” Erica asks, picking up her purse. She looks surprised as she stands up.

            “Definitely—we like to take extra care of people back home,” Stiles tells her with his best smile. “Besides, I think you’re the easiest client we have right now.”

            Erica grins. “I’m decisive. I think I’ve already settled on what I want for the menu, but I’m going to discuss it a bit more at home.”

            “Of course,” Stiles tells her.

            “Can I stop by and say hi to Allison and Lydia?” Erica asks when they exit the kitchen and enter back into the offices.

            “I’ll see if they’re free,” Stiles answers. He pokes his head into the room, to see both Allison and Lydia typing on their computers. “Erica wants to say hi.”

            “Send her in!” Lydia says, smiling. “I could use a break.”

            “They’re all yours,” Stiles tells Erica. She slips into the office, and Stiles goes to stand around Derek.

            He debates making small talk, and decides against it. He’s about to go into his office when Derek says, “Last week—you said I hated you.”

            Stiles spins around on his toes and blinks at Derek. He’s not sure what to say, so he just nods.

            “I don’t. I never did.”

            “You have an odd way of showing it then,” Stiles says, leaning against the wall. He glances out to see if Isaac’s paying him any attention, but Isaac’s on the phone nodding earnestly. Stiles relaxes a little. “I get that you’re not exactly the friendliest of dudes, but you’ve gone out of your way to be rude to me. On multiple occasions. So I get it. You don’t like me.”

            Derek’s lips part as if he might say something else. Stiles cuts him short by turning into his office. He shuts the door behind him. Goddammit.

            He’d let Derek get underneath his skin again.

            Fuck this.

 

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

 

            “Hey buddy, how are you—whoa, what’s wrong?” Scott asks when Stiles enters the animal hospital. Scott’s wearing his concerned expression, and Stiles doesn’t know how to explain how he’s feeling. He just leans against the receptionist desk and throws Scott his best ‘pity-me’ look. “You have _that_ look.”

            “What look?” Stiles asks, intrigued.

            “The Derek Hale look. Who’s been rude to you today?” Scott asks. “Because I will kick their ass.”

            “Ha,” Stiles says. “Would you believe me if I say Derek Hale himself?”

            “What?” Scott asks.

            “I know. I should’ve told you. You know how Erica’s our new client?” Stiles asks. Scott nods. “ _Well_ , guess who walked in with her? Derek fucking Hale. I can’t even. Last week I confronted him about hating me, and he didn’t say anything. Then today, he tells me that he’s never hated me. Like _as if_. He was such a dick to me.”

            “You know my thoughts on that,” Scott tells him gently.

            “I don’t _care_ that Kate was a bitch to him who destroyed him. He had no reason to hate me and we both know it,” Stiles says. But he groans and bangs his head off the desk. “I hate life.”

            “No you don’t. What does Derek look like these days anyway?” Scott asks.

            He asks because he knows Stiles. And he knows that Stiles can’t resist gushing about how fucking attractive Derek is. It works, and twenty minutes later, Stiles is following Scott out the door still talking about Derek’s ass.

            “Stiles, you should probably do something about your crush on Derek. It’s been nine years and clearly nothing’s changed,” Scott suggests quietly. “Why don’t you explore that?”

            “Uh, for the _obvious_ reasons,” Stiles says. He shakes his head. “Scott, I don’t think you should be encouraging me. You’re supposed to stop me from making bad decisions.”

            Scott blinks, clearly confused. Stiles wraps his arms around his best friend though and whispers, “Thanks man. I needed this. I’ll see you this weekend for drinks?”

            “Sure. I invited Isaac, is that okay?” Scott asks quietly.

            “Perfectly okay,” Stiles tells him with a pat on his back. He heads towards his Jeep. “Text me later, dude!”

            “Will do!” Scott shouts back.

 

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

 

            When Erica comes in for the sixth time to go over wedding details, she doesn’t bring Derek. Stiles is relieved. He’d been getting used to Derek’s dark glares, and random looks of torn confusion. They hadn’t spoken privately since the second meeting, so Stiles had been nothing but professional.

            Lydia had also lectured him about not drinking so much so he’s hung over on the day following meetings with Erica and Derek. Allison’s worked her ass off on this event, with the help of Lydia of course, to make sure that everything’s ready to go in nine months. Erica had only come in about two months ago, and been pleasantly surprised at how quickly _Allydia Diamond Events_ has moved to finalize all the details of her wedding.

            The truth is that they’d worked a little hard because it’s the easiest and low maintenance weddings they have this year. Erica’s been amazing to work with.

            Today she brings in some sketches of Cora’s for Stiles to look at. He studies them, and excuses himself from her presence. Allison takes his and they start discussing timing.

            “Yo, Lyds, I have some sketches you might want to look at,” Stiles says, as he enters Lydia’s office. She looks up from her desk, and pauses whatever she’s doing to hold her hand out. He gives them to her, and watches as she inspects them carefully. “It would be great to work off these instead of my crap.”

            “It would be much more efficient. Who drew these?” Lydia asks.

            “Cora Hale,” Stiles answers.

            “Hm.”

            “Danny might also be able to use her skills for doing a little marketing revamp. Give us a fresher look if we gave our stuff a little bit of an artsy look?” Stiles suggests.

            Lydia studies each of the drawings. “You want to hire her?”

            “Or at least commission her for designs. I can’t do them worth shit, and it would be great to have something like that to work from.”

            Lydia nods again. “Get me her information. I’ll set up a contract with her. And Stiles?”

            “Yes?”

            “Stop bringing in people for us to hire.” The words are spoken with a smile though. “You’re worse than Scott with stray animals.”

            Stiles snorts but he nods. “I’ll try my best, Lyds.”

            He takes back the designs and pokes his head into the meeting room where Erica and Allison are sitting. “Lydia wants to hire Cora on commission. Can I get her information from her?”

            “I can give it to you,” Derek’s deep voice comes from behind him. He spins around, trying to hold back any surprise. Derek looks at Erica. “Sorry I’m late.”

            “It’s fine,” she tells him. “Go give Stiles Cora’s information and then join us.”

            “Okay,” Derek says, looking  at Stiles expectantly.

            “C’mon,” Stiles says, moving from the meeting room to his office. He enters and grabs a pen and paper. “Here, can you just write it on that?”

            “Sure,” Derek says. He takes the pen and paper from Stiles and leans over to write on the desk. “How have you been?”

            “Fine,” Stiles says, feeling a little jumpy with Derek in his office.

            “I’m doing great, thanks for asking,” Derek says dryly.

            It catches Stiles off guard, and he starts to laugh. “Oh man, sorry. Now I’m being rude. I’m glad you’re doing great. How’s working with Allison been?”

            “Good,” Derek says, with a shrug. He holds out the piece of paper. Stiles takes it, and smiles his thank you. “When Erica told Cora about your idea to maybe commission her, she got excited and nervous.”

            “Aw,” Stiles says before he can stop himself. “She has talent. I need that talent, and Lydia knows that.”

            “She’s grateful for the opportunity,” Derek tells him with a nod. “Thank you. My sister hasn’t had the easiest life.”

            Stiles blinks. He knows what Derek’s talking about, and he’s surprised Derek’s bringing it up. He isn’t sure how to touch the comment. He knows that when Derek was in grade twelve, he’d been dating Allison’s mentally ill aunt, Kate. Kate had been at least ten to twelve years older than Derek. It’d been a twisted relationship from the beginning. Then Kate had it into her head that Derek’s family is dangerous. She’d tried to kill his entire family by burning down his house.

            They’d gotten out safely. Mainly because Derek had caught her and stopped her before it was too late. Stiles can’t imagine what that must have felt like for Derek—finding his girlfriend trying to kill his family.

            After that, things had been shaky for the Hales. Stiles remembers hearing that Cora had become stalked by the media. Everyone wanted to know what the Hales felt about their precious Derek Hale almost killing them. They hadn’t let up for almost two years afterwards.

            Cora hadn’t had the easiest of lives, and Derek feels it’s his fault. Stiles can see that written all over his face.

            Stiles doesn’t know what compels him to, but he reaches out and puts a hand on Derek’s arm in the most comforting manner he can manage. “I remember Cora, after you left for college. She didn’t let the media get her down, Derek. She fought them, and she fought well.”

            Derek swallows hard. “Stiles, I need you to know—”

            “Excuse me,” Isaac’s voice comes. Stiles jumps away from Derek. “Stiles, your two o’clock appointment is here.”

            “Thanks, Isaac,” Stiles says, with a short nod. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

            “Of course, sir,” Isaac says. He laughs when Stiles gives him a sharp look.

            “He likes to make me feel old when we’re the same age. How does that even work?” Stiles says, more to himself than Derek. But Derek lets out a laugh. Stiles tilts his head and looks at the man. It’s a nice laugh.

            “I should get back to Erica.”

            “Yeah,” Stiles whispers.

            _Oh god_ , he’s getting feelings for Derek Hale again. Maybe they never left. Stiles doesn’t know. He cannot explain it or comprehend why he has feelings for a guy who doesn’t even like him. He just always has. He steps away from Derek, because he can’t breathe anymore.

            “Erica’s waiting,” Derek says as if he’s reminding himself. As if he’d forgotten in the last twenty seconds.

            “She is,” Stiles says back. He wonders if Derek’s chest feels as tight as his does right now. “It was nice seeing you.”

            “You too,” Derek responds.

            It takes them both a good twenty more seconds before either of them move. Stiles has no idea what just happened. He thinks they had a moment. He has no idea what that moment was or what it means, but there was a moment.

            He’s in daze while he talks to his clients. He doesn’t find them as enjoyable to be around as Erica is, or as distracting as Derek is.

            Fuck. He has a crush on a guy whose wedding _Stiles_ is helping plan. He has a crush on a guy’s fiancée that he _likes_. Wow. He’s an asshole.

 

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

 

            “It’s great to finally meet you,” Stiles says as he shakes Cora’s hand. She looks a little more mature than she had the last time he’d seen her, but overall, she’s the same Cora Hale that he remembers.

            She smiles. “Thanks, Stiles. My brother said you were really impressed with my sketches. Thank you.”

            “Of course,” Stiles says, with a grin. “They’re great. I’m going to introduce you to Lydia. She has a couple of contracts drawn up for you, because she wants to make sure that this is beneficial for you too.”

            “Wow, okay, great. This is awesome,” Cora admits as they walk towards Lydia’s office.

            “Your brother said you seemed excited about it,” Stiles says casually.

            Cora raises an eyebrow. “My brother said that? I’m surprised.”

            “Why’s that?” Stiles asks, before he knocks on Allison and Lydia’s office door.

            “He told me he has difficulties talking around you,” Cora says with a grin. Lydia opens the door.

            “You must be Cora.”

            Before Stiles can ask what she meant, the door’s shutting. Stiles leans back on his heels. He has clients coming in today to go over a menu for their wedding, and he’s betting that Cora will be gone before the meeting’s over.

            Dammit. Derek had spoke about him to his sister? Does that mean anything? _Does it matter_? He’s engaged.

 

* * *

 

 

            It’s not until about three weeks later, when Erica requests another food tasting. Stiles finds that a bit odd, since they’ve already finalized her menu. He wonders if she’s having second thoughts. He agrees, of course, because she’s a paying client. Stiles just thinks it’s odd. She only requested the menu she’d chosen to be tasted.

            Stiles loves Heather, he thinks, as he helps her setup the table this time. She’s chattering away mindlessly and it helps keeps Stiles’ mind off Erica’s fiancé. “How are you and Caitlin doing?”

            “We’re great!” Heather says, beaming. “We actually ran into Scott and Isaac on our date last Saturday. They make a cute couple.”

            “They do,” Stiles agrees. _Scott and Isaac_? What? Since when? Stiles thinks back to the way Isaac casually stops by his office to ask about Scott, or how Scott will ask Stiles about Isaac specifically when he stops by the animal hospital to ramble about his day. They’d all gone out drinking a couple times—Allison, Lydia, and Danny in tow—and Stiles had noticed how Scott and Isaac had bonded. He just hadn’t realized how much.

            He’s okay with it though, and figures Scott will tell him when the time is right. Scott’s usually been a one-woman kind of guy. He’s probably basking in the life of being a one-man kind of guy. Stiles continues to chat with Heather until there’s a knock at the door.

            “Stiles, Erica and her fiancé are here,” Isaac announces.

            “Can you bring them back?” Stiles asks. Isaac nods and heads out. Stiles thinks it’s a bit odd that Isaac said ‘Erica and her fiancé’ when he’d never acknowledged Derek’s presence before. Perhaps he had and Stiles hadn’t noticed. “Heather, you’re a lifesaver. Seriously.”

            “I know,” she teases. “I’ll go get the food.”

            “Thanks,” Stiles says. He pulls out his files to make sure he has all of the information correct.

            “Oh Stiles, I’m so excited!” Erica’s voice comes a few seconds later. He sets down his paper and then turns to see her. She rushes forward, her hand in the grip of someone who most definitely isn’t Derek Hale. “Stiles, I would like you to meet the love of my life, Vernon Boyd. We just call him Boyd though. Boyd, this is Stiles Stilinski. I’ve been talking about you.”

            “I…wait, you’re not marrying Derek Hale?” Stiles stammers despite his entire life goal of staying professional.

            Erica snorts. “No way. He was just my stand-in while Boyd’s been busy travelling for work. He’s done now, so he’s home for good.”

            She steps up on her tiptoes to kiss the attractive black man. Boyd puts his hand beneath her chin and Stiles can see him smiling into the kiss. He then pulls away. “That was rude of me. It’s nice to meet you.”

            “No, I…I mean, it’s nice to meet you too. I remember you. You were on the lacrosse team too,” Stiles manages to choke out.

            _Derek’s not marrying Erica. Derek’s not marrying Erica. Erica is not marrying Derek. Derek could be single._

            “I was,” Boyd says, with amusement. “Erica said that you’ve helped her pick out the perfect menu?”

            “I hope so,” Stiles says. Heather adds the last dish to the table as Stiles says, “Please take a seat.”

            Boyd loves the menu, claiming that Erica has impeccable taste, and that Stiles has great chefs. Heather brings out the desserts for them, and Boyd goes crazy over those too. The entire time he and Erica are stealing kisses. They look delirious in love, and Stiles wonders how he could’ve ever thought that Derek had been into Erica.

            Erica laughs and leans into Boyd as they talk. She’s clearly happy to have him back home, and she uses her fingers to wipe off some icing that he gets on his lip. She then sucks on her finger and Boyd murmurs about how sexy she is.

            And Stiles ignores this all because _Derek isn’t marrying Erica_.

 

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

 

            “Hey,” Cora says when she walks into the office two weeks after the big reveal. Stiles is almost annoyed Boyd’s back. While the man is fucking great and Stiles really likes him, it means Derek is no longer coming around. “I hope it’s okay that my brother came up to say hi.”

            Cora had been meeting clients alone to get all the details of the ideas that they had. Sometimes she did it over a phone call, sometimes via email. She liked using their meeting room as a place to draw, and no one had any complaints. She’d come in today for her ten o’clock phone meeting with a couple that Stiles had started to intensely dislike.

            “Yeah,” Stiles says, unsure what else he could say. Cora waves her brother over and then disappears from the doorframe. He stands up, feeling awkward, as Derek walks into line of sight.

            “Hey,” Derek says quietly.

            “Hi,” Stiles says. “How have you been?”

            “Great,” Derek responds.

            “I’m doing great too, thanks for asking,” Stiles blurts out as if it’s an inside joke. Derek smiles though, and Stiles relaxes. They have an inside joke. “I…recently found out that you’re not marrying Erica.”

            “What?” Derek says. He starts to laugh now. “Why would I ever marry Erica?”

            “I don’t know!” Stiles says. “Erica’s awesome.”

            “And the wrong sex for me,” Derek says. He’s amused though. Stiles had learned to read his tight expressions. “I’m into men.”

            “Oh,” Stiles says. “Well you dated Kate.”

            “And discovered that women are not my thing,” Derek says. If he’s surprised that Stiles brings Kate up, he doesn’t let it show. He just adds, “I never hated you. In high school. Or now.”

            Stiles just shrugs, because he’s not sure what else he should do.

            Derek sighs. “Okay, Stiles, I need to set the record straight.”

            “Sure,” Stiles says, carelessly waving his hand for Derek to proceed.

            “In high school, I struggled a lot with my sexuality. And there you were, looking the way you do, and it was harder to deny that I might be gay when I kept getting hard-ons around you,” Derek confides.

            “ _What_?” Stiles sputters. He has no idea what Derek’s saying to him, but he’s decided he doesn’t want Derek to ever stop talking. Not about _this_.

            “It’s ridiculous. And then Erica dragged me in here. She knew, back in high school, about my crush on you.” Derek shrugs as he walks into Stiles’ office. His voice has been kept low, but he shuts the door anyway. “Apparently, my inability to think around you came back.”

            “ _I_ had a crush on you,” Stiles blurts. “In high school. You drove me insane. I never knew why you hated me so much, and it was very confusing. You were so attractive, but then I watched how you were with people. It was hard not to fall for you, even if you were an asshole to me.”

            Derek smiles. “And now?”

            “And now, I can’t think straight.”

            “I didn’t mean to bombard you, Stiles. I just wanted…wanted you to know.” The words are spoken with such care that Stiles wants to sit down and hug them for the rest of his life. Derek turns to leave his office, but Stiles moves quickly to block his exit.

            “Just let me process this. High school Stiles is fainting right now,” Stiles assures Derek. “Present Stiles just needs a minute to get caught up.”

            “Okay,” Derek says.

            “You’re saying you’re into me?” Stiles asks.

            “I’m saying I’m _definitely_ into you,” Derek tells him. “I’ve been driving Erica and Cora nuts. I think Erica was going to threaten to kick me out of her wedding.”

            Stiles gives out a small laugh. “Oh wow. Okay, wow. Derek, I’m so into you that my nuts hurt constantly.”

            “Blue balls?” Derek says with a dramatic concern. “We can’t have that, now can we?”

            “God no.”

            Then Derek’s kissing him and suddenly, Stiles realizes why he’s been painfully single for the past nine years. Nothing and no one could’ve prepared him for Derek Hale, and he’s grateful for that.

 

♦ ♦ ♦ ♦

 

            “She looks gorgeous,” Stiles murmurs to Derek.

            “She does,” Derek agrees. He looks over at Stiles. “So do you though.”

            “Back at you, softie,” Stiles says. He wiggles a pointed finger at Derek. “I saw you get all teary-eyed when Erica promised herself to Boyd.”

            “I had to give _you_ a tissue,” Derek counters.

            “We both knew I was soft though,” Stiles says. He leans into Derek as they watch Erica and Boyd dance. To them, no one else existed. It was sweet to watch. Derek then pulls Stiles in close and starts to sway with him. “How sad are you going to be when they cut your beautiful cake?”

            “Only super sad. It’s a gorgeous cake,” Stiles tells him with a sigh. “Scott always makes me eat a piece of it because he’s a cruel bastard.”

            Derek laughs. “Your words of spite and your tone of affection don’t match. Where is Scott anyway?”

            “He’s dancing with Isaac. They’re good for each other.”

            “Where’s Isaac’s little brother?” Derek asks, glancing around. “Is anyone watching for him?”

            “Yes,” Stiles says grinning. He loves that Derek adores the little boy that Isaac sponsors. He loves that Derek worries, and that he’s going to be a good father some day. Mainly, Stiles just loves Derek. He leans in a bit closer, “He’s with Lydia.”

            “Oh, okay, good.” Derek relaxes into Stiles’ embrace now. “I don’t know if I ever told you this, but I’m glad as hell that Erica went to _Allydia Diamond_ to plan her wedding.”

            “We do diamond events best,” Stiles quotes their newest slogan. Cora had recently designed the new slogan’s font, and Danny had been so excited to upload it everywhere.

            Derek nuzzles Stiles. “What would you say if I got you a diamond?”

            “It’s too soon,” Stiles admits.

            “Good, because I haven’t gotten you one yet.”

            “Bastard,” Stiles says, fondly.

            “You love me,” Derek teases.

            “I do,” Stiles admits. He pulls his head back. They haven’t said this to each other yet. “I do love you.”

            “I do too,” Derek whispers. “I love you too.”

            Their noses touch as they keep dancing. Stiles steals a quick kiss, but then he pulls Derek close and smiles at Erica and Boyd over Derek’s shoulder.

            Erica grins and says something to Boyd that makes him laugh hard. Stiles wants to be them, and realizes he’s on a great path to just that.

           

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hey my lovelies. I'm sorry I was so down about my stuff yesterday. I got myself some chocolate ice cream, came back, and this happened. I'm feeling much better about it (probably because I'm an event planner so this was fun for me). It might not be my best, but I'm definitely okay with it!
> 
> Also some fun stuff: I signed up for Pinetrest and got myself a board for Erica and Boyd's wedding inspiration. It's [ here.](http://www.pinterest.com/ericalynnriley/erica-and-boyds-wedding/) (There are also random cake sketches that I found and pinned for Cora's cake sketches). I thought that was a silly addition.
> 
> I really love Erica + yellow, and I think that if she were to get married, she wouldn't do a huge bash. She'd want something small, simple, and meaningful. In my opinion, anyway. (A yellow and white wedding is my dream as well).
> 
>  
> 
> [Here's my tumblr if you want.](www.foxerica.tumblr.com)


End file.
